Courtroom coverage…the juggling act

ONE of the hardest aspects of covering major court cases is the balancing act between staying in the courtroom and getting back to the office.

With so much potential news stories and background material being unearthed on a daily basis it is often both easy and tempting to stay for long periods in court, at the cost of the day-to-day stories needed to fill the rest of the paper.

Personally I find myself worrying that if I don’t stay in court as much as possible I will miss some crucial element of the proceedings.

But the truth of the matter is it is pretty much impossible to be in court all the time, it is pretty much impossible to report on everything that happens and it is pretty much impossible to sit and concentrate on every detail every day for nine weeks.

And despite spending nearly every day in court for the last three weeks I still managed to miss a major report on a witness claiming he was paid to guard £30m worth of drugs, so I guess the morale of the story is, you can’t do it all.

But it was indeed rather frustrating to see that particular report on the front of the Nottingham Evening Post and realise I had missed out on a gem of a story, despite all my recent efforts.

Really, all that you can do as a reporter is manage your time effectively, covering the early parts of the trial when the main details and all the juicy facts are uncovered and then dip in and out of the hearing as and when an important event or witness enters the court arena.

It is a difficult juggling act, but a skill that becomes much easier as the trial slowly grinds on and on.

Courtroom drama . . . it’s better than Taggart

Major court reporting is without doubt the most exciting part of being a journalist and better than any television drama.

Watching the Gary Hardy trial unfold at Nottingham Crown court has been a real pleasure for me and certainly better than anything Taggart or Poirot can serve up.

Looking at the case from the eyes of just a normal man on the street the evidence dished up has been gripping, thrilling, emotional and tense. The future lives of all those involved has already been changed forever or will soon be changed and it is hard not to be caught up in that drama.

As a journalist the case is the perfect professional opportunity for me to work on a major story and to stamp my own personal authority on the Chad coverage.

Even at this early stage it is clear there is a virtually unlimited number of stories flowing from the proceedings, and while it is a big challenge to cover all that goes on each day it is certainly hugely exciting to be at the cutting edge of journalism.

The days have been long and intense and my patience and concentration has often been stretched (along with my wrist and my biro) but the coverage in the Chad, even if I do say so myself, has been excellent and something I am rather proud of.

So what does the typical court day involve?. All being well court begins at 10.30am when the evidence of the first witness is unleashed and my pen leaps into action. Usually each witness throws up a number of stories in each session leaving with me with the often interesting challenge of writing three or four stories during the lunch interval, while trying to juggle my notepad and my cheese sandwhich.

It is then up to me to ring the stories through to our main Mansfield office for one of the other unlucky reporters to take down and file through for our regular internet updates - a process which can often be rather tricky thanks to the frequent bangs, creaks and noises of doors, people and workmen in the court building.

After a quick ten-minute breather the madness of court once again leaps into action and the process is repeated all over again, leaving me to file another one or two stories to keep the news-hungry Chad.co.uk readers happy during the afternoon before I drag my weary body back home.

So while my wrist and brain will no doubt be rather happy when the case ends, I myself will miss the professional buzz the trial has brought me . . . luckily for me I still have another two months to savour.

Courtroom Craziness

FOR a person like myself who has no patience at the best of times, court reporting can be quite the challenge.

The biggest task in fact is not the actual court reporting (something I generally find easy and enjoyable) but the tedious challenge of killing time and managing the boredom as I wait for the case to get underway or reconvene after lunch or one of the many interruptions.

And this particular element of court reporting is something I find the most frustrating.

Indeed the prospect of sitting re-reading a book on WW1 that I’ve already read three times before (probably whilst waiting during a previous trial) or listening to the rather entertaining Notes From A Small Island on my MP3 player for the 19th time is not a pleasant thought.

And this week I have once again come face-to-face with my own courtroom craziness as a rather important drugs trial, which is expected to last between six and ten weeks, finally got underway.

Thankfully court reporting for me has once saving grace. Though the hours of waiting may be as dull as the sky over Lapland in winter, the journalistic rewards are there for all to see.

Through that dullness is one shining light….the chance to work on a massive story and to bag the front page that everyone wants to read.

And though the end of the case remains many moons away, I couldn’t help but sit there like an exciting child waiting to open his Christmas presents as the lawyers massed and the case officially opened.

Now let us all pray that the solitude doesn’t drive me mad before the case concludes.

 

 

News Flow

Each week it is possible to guage just how good the content quality of the Ashfield Chad for the week will be as early as Friday.

A busy Friday and a steady stream of news over the weekend means we are likely to have a full paper, packed with quality news and plenty of stories to entertain and inform our readers….but a quiet Friday followed by a dead weekend can certainly leave us struggling.

And this week was just one of those week. Come Friday the phones were quiet, the email flow of news virtually non existant and this week’s edition was still sparse to say the least.

Fear not, we will be saved by what happens over the weekend and on Monday ….or so I thought. Monday again remained quiet and unless we took decisive action then the Ashfield Chad would be a pityful publication this week.

So what do we as journalists in the Ashfield newsroom do to rectify the sorry situation in such circumstances? Well we work super hard of course to find stories to fill the paper with.

When we are devoid of dramatic court, inquests and calls stories (police, fire and ambulance activity) the best place to go is to the grass roots and community stories. The best place to get that is of course councillors who are out there on a daily basis with their fingers on the pulse of all things Ashfield.

And after enough phone calls to leave my finger-tips a tad on the sore side we came up trumps, with a steady flow of stories about new play areas, flower gardens and community carnivals. Ok, not the most interesting perhaps, but still crucial to people of the district.

So hopefully come Wedensday our efforts will help make this week’s Ashfield Chad once again another must-read for everyone connected with the district.

Help preserve Newstead Abbey

CALLS have been made this week to do more to promote and preserve Newstead Abbey, and I couldn’t agree more.

North Nottinghamshire is blessed with many excellent tourist attractions and areas of natural beauty, and Newstead Abbey is up there with the best of them.

The Abbey represents the nation’s glorious past, it represents history… above all it is a site of national heritage that we must all be very proud off and must maintain for generations to come.

We ALL must do more. But what can we do to help make the most of the wonderful abbey? I’m just one person, what can I do I hear you all cry?….well for one thing, visit it. If we all visited the attraction more often the surge in visitor numbers would help address the shortfall between what is needed to maintain the abbey and how much money is available to finance the repairs.

An increase in interest and visitor numbers would also surely give a little nudge to the powers-that-be at Nottingham City Council. More interest equals more desire and more effort to promote the abbey and pour funds into its coffers.

Of course the public cannot do it all themselves, and more vision is needed from Nottingham City Council and other interested organisations.

More must be done to build on the name of Lord Bryon, more must be done to attract more regular avenues of funding such as concerts, school educational events, attractions in the ground.

More must be done to make people want to step onto the Abbey. The Abbey has stood in all its glory for hundreds of years and has even withstood a civil war, what a crying shame it would be if our generation could not protect the abbey as our ancestors once did.

Olympic dreams

So Ashfield is set to be an Olympic venue……ok it’s not the host city, but it’s a start.

Athletes from across the globe will now gather to put the finish touches to their preparations for the London 2012 games at Ashfield School’s spanking running track. And what a big lift it will give to our district.

The news means youngsters from Ashfield will get a first hand glimpse of the world’s best athletes and can feel part of the Olympic dream.

The Olympic dream of course has to start somewhere. Seb Coe didn’t just become a world class athlete from nowhere and who knows, maybe the visit of athletes will set a young Ashfield competitor on the road to future Olympic glory.

But even if that is not the case, Ashfield has been put on the map and can now feel a genuine part of the most famous games in the world….it is not just a London event, it is now a national spectacular.

And great credit for this must, of course, go to headteacher Ian Fraser and other staff members at the school who helped make this possible.

For without their wonderful work and dedication to bring the state-of-the-art facility to the school, none of this would be possible.

Thanks to their commitment, Ashfield now has a facility to be proud of, a facility to encourage sportsmen and woman of the future and a lasting legacy for the school.

The 2012 games will be a great success….and I’m sure the Olympic visit to Ashfield will go down just as well.

Health care boost for Ashfield

MENTAL health patients across Ashfield will receive a massive boost when the new Lucy Wade unit opens at Millbrook. 

Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust threw open the doors of the impressive unit to the public on Tuesday and I was one of those lucky enough to be given the grand tour.

And let me say, I was very impressed with what I saw.

The new ward features tranquil relaxation gardens, individual en-suite bedrooms (which were better than some hotel rooms I’ve had the misfortune to stay in) as well as new intensive care units, assessment areas and prayer rooms.

The revamped centre, which opens in July, will also allow patients to remain nearer their families and is the perfect home away from home.

The NHS Trust deserve great credit for offering such a facility. Patients unlucky enough to be suffering from mental health troubles can now enjoy state-of-the-art care and support and can surely look forward to a speedier recovery.

Quarrydale…a school on the up

QUARRYDALE School is going places….and so are its pupils.

News that Quarrydale is to become a specialist centre for maths and science represents great news for everyone connected with Ashfield.

The move now means students will be able to enjoy state-of-the-art education facilities, thanks to £500,000 in Government grants, as well as the opportunity to learn trades and fine-tune skills with some of Ashfield’s leading businesses.

Employers will have access to a pool of talented and willing workers to train up and fill their skills shortage. The community get thriving businesses, a vibrant jobs market and a boosted economy - it’s a win win situation for Ashfield.

Great credit must go to staff and pupils, and especially headteacher Craig Weaver and his deputy Martin Brookes, for having the drive, determination and aspiration to take Quarrydale to the next level.

The pair have worked tirelessly over many months to pool together businesses, community leaders and education representatives to provide the strongest possible bid - and, of course, somehow find the £50,000 needed to apply for specialist status.

Their vision and work-rate has now been rewarded, and as a result Ashfield can now look forward to a brighter future.

If everyone in Ashfield had the same drive and commitment, the district would once again be proud and thriving.

It’s time to debate

NEWSPAPERS are not just here to entertain and excite - we are also here to inform, stimulate debate and discuss the areas of real concern for our readers.

And this week’s Chad is a real case in point as we discuss the full extent of substance mis-use amongst the youth of Mansfield and Ashfield, based on admissions to King’s Mill Hospital’s Accident & Emergency department.

As with any debate, statistics can mean whatever you want them to mean. Figures show 104 people aged 16 and under were admitted to hospital due to aclcohol and 100 due to drugs in 2007.

Does this mean that too many children are being exposed to substance abuse or is it a shining example that the vast majority of the area’s children are remaining safe from harm?

Does this further highlight the rowdy behaviour of our nation’s children and the perceived binge-drinking culture or is it a ringing endorsement of the work of D.A.R.E and other organisations? Do we actually give our youth enough education and support to avoid drink and drugs? The answer to these questions of course all depend on individual opinions.

But what, and I’m sure we can all agree on this one, is important is that society recognises that young people will always be exposed to risk and put under pressure to take drinks and drugs for many different factors - whether it is exam and home-life stresses or simply peer pressure.

The vast majority of Mansfield and Ashfield’s teenagers will stay away from the dangers of mass drink consumption and drug abuse, but sadly there will always be a small minority who get sucked into the murky world of drugs.

As a society we must continue working hard together to offer the advice and education needed to keep kids safe, and of course much-needed support programmes for those not fortunate enough to resist temptation.

And, as the author of this Chad report, I hope this article will help make parents more aware of the threats and stimulate debate on how to help the area’s youngsters.

http://www.chad.co.uk/ashfieldnews/Shock-King39s-Mill-child-drug.3698069.jp

Dealing with death

One of the hardest things a journalist has to do is interview grieving people who have just lost a loved one in tragic circumstances. It is perhaps even harder when that person is a child.For a reporter we are simply doing our job, but for the person at the other end their life has been ruined and turned upside down forever. Dealing with a situation such as this is perhaps difficult for both interviewer and interviewee. The reporter cannot help get caught up in the atmosphere of sadness, while the parent or relative can be so stricken with grief it is understandably hard for them to go over the horrific circumstances of the death of their loved one. Today I found myself in such a situation as I approached the house of Stephen and Penny Berrill who had just lost their brave 12-year-old son David to a rare degenerative muscle disease. Approaching the house is perhaps the most nervous part of the whole situation. Who will answer the door? Will they talk or will they tell you to sling your hook? Will you get the story or be forced to return to the office empty-handed? Generally such interviews offer a mixed bag with some relatives more than happy to tell the world about the pleasures their loved one brought their family and friends, while others see the media visit as an untimely and unneccesary intrusion. On this occasion the parents of remarkable David were more than happy to talk and generously invited me into their home. And even having done many death-knocks, as they are known in the business, I am still amazed by just how open, chatty and tear-free people can be with a total stranger in such difficult circumstances. I’m not so sure that if the boot was on the other foot I would have had the strength of character to cope with such circumstances, and Mr and Mrs Berrill deserve much respect for the bravery and dignity they demonstrated. David, like his parents, showed great courage throughout his horrific ordeal and fought his disease with tremendous bravery and honour. He gained the respect of family, friends and all who knew him and we hope our tribute to David will prove to be a fitting way to honour his memory.